Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 41

Crystal clear

Ksheene vritteh abhijatasya manehe grheetru grihana grahyeshu tatstha tadanjanata samapattihi

There is a point of time during the sadhana, or spiritual practices, when all the thoughts that kept rising like incessant waves on the ocean of consciousness ebb outh a state of pure tranquility, the mind becomes like a pure cryst

al which simply reflects the colours of objects that surround it.

In this state of Samadhi, the one who is trying to comprehend an object of meditation, the process and means of comprehension and the object of comprehension dissolves its difference and everything just remains a unified field of consciousness - one without a second.

As an example, I narrate here my experience of such a state when I went to the Himalayas for the first time with a group led by Swami Akshara.

After all the arduous trek from Gangotri to Chirwasa and on the next day to Bhojwasa and on the third day to Gomukh on a pony, I had to climb rocks boulders and walk through soft sand and rivulets to finally sit on a stone washed by the gushing Bhageerathi, which flows out of a cave shaped like the face of a cow and hence the name Gomukh, or cow-face.

My energies were thoroughly exhausted in the trek when I sat down on the rock beside the ice-cold waters. There was a while I don't know how long when I did not exist - nor did the rock or the people and voices around or the river. I opened my eyes when a ponyman tapped me to say it was not proper to sit there as the river might swell any moment without a warning. That was a moment of absorbtion - I realise now with gratitude to my Guru. - Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Pic: Quartz Crystal Hanuman